India Protests Erupt as Trans Rights Bill Faces Withdrawal Calls
India Protests Erupt as Trans Rights Bill Faces Withdrawal Calls
Activists across major Indian cities mobilize to oppose the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, defending self-identification and challenging withdrawal of rights.
The Union government’s proposed Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026 would withdraw the right to self-perceived gender identity and redefine who constitutes a transgender person. The move has sparked protests and public meetings across cities including New Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata, with activists demanding the withdrawal of the bill and the protection of self-identification.
Civil society coalitions, lawyers, doctors, activists and other professionals in cities like Guwahati, Chennai, Varanasi, Bengaluru and several others are planning campaigns to write to MPs, organise awareness meetings, and strategise over how to register opposition to the amendments. A public petition has also been initiated online, gathering over 13,000 signatures as on Monday evening.
Karnataka transgender coalition wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister opposing the Amendment Bill. At the Indian Women’s Press Corps in New Delhi, a coalition of people from the transgender community, lawyers, activists and rights-based organisations held a press conference, calling the amendments discriminatory and unjust and arguing that this is not how a democracy functions.
In the 2014 NALSA judgement, the Supreme Court had recognised that the right to self-identification of gender falls under personal liberty, a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. Activists emphasise that rights won through landmark judgments must be safeguarded, not eroded.
Public statements from activist groups, including the Trans Rights Now Collective, have called for withdrawal of the amendments and for stronger protections of self-identification and related rights. The proposed changes were introduced on Friday by Social Justice Minister Virendra Kumar.
